Posts Published in September 2011

Nine years ago, during his final year as a fine art photography student in Melbourne, Martin Cheung came up with a strange idea: seeing how roast duck was a symbol of Chinese cooking, he wanted to see how the duck saw Melbourne’s Chinatown. He then bought a roast duck, turned it into a pinhole camera, and — after a couple of failures and adjustments — used it to photograph Melbourne’s Chinatown gate. You can find more info on the project (and a step-by-step guide on making your own roast duck camera) over on Cheung’s website.

Crazy about photography, web designer and aspiring commercial photographer Dabe Alan decided to get a sleeve tattoo showing the evolution of cameras. He documented the process by creating stop-motion videos in which the artwork magically appears on his arm. The videos show 12 hours of sitting in the tattoo parlor, and comprise 2713 separate photographs shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70mm lens.Read more…

Kodak’s stock plummeted again today, losing nearly 50% of its value and closing at $0.78 per share. The company was worth over $30 billion back in 1997, but todays stock price pegs the value at just $200 million. Prominent investors in the company are calling for its sale, but apparently there’s been hurdles in selling off its patent portfolio, and now bankruptcy might be on the horizon. A quote by a company spokesperson a couple days ago caught my eye: when asked why Kodak was struggling in the digital market, the response was,

We have one of the leading digital camera line-ups, including top-selling pocket video cameras with differentiated features, and a wide range of digital cameras that feature the unique “Share” button.

That kind of explains things, doesn’t it? The end appears to be very near…

Earlier this week, a Reuters photograph showing a Libyan rebel firing an RPG caused a stir after people on a number of sites suggested that it might have been Photoshopped. Well, it turns out the photo is 100% real — not only did Reuters confirm this with us, but forensic expert Neal Krawetz arrived at the same conclusion after analyzing the image:

By using a suite of analysis methods, it becomes extremely difficult for a fake image to pass unnoticed. While an intentional forgery might pass one or two tests, it takes a level of skill that most photographers and amateur graphic artists lack. This picture easily passes every test (including a whole slew that I didn’t include here). I have no reason to question the authenticity of this picture.

Typically, amazing photos come about through digital modifications. However in this case, Anis Mili has truly captured an amazing photo. And he did it without using a crutch like Photoshop.

Photographer Patrick Lindsay shot this beautiful photograph of gumballs seen through water drops. It’s similar to the MC Escher water drop photo we shared a while ago, but is much easier to create since the drops of water aren’t moving in this photo.Read more…

Awesome deal alert (for those of you in the US): Walmart is offering a free 16×20 photo poster print. These things normally cost $13 or $14 bucks, and are a great way to show off a photo on your wall. Download the coupon here to print out yourself. You’ll need to place the order through Walmart’s photo site and then pay at the counter when picking it up. The coupon expires at the end of October, so you have a month to pick out your favorite photo.

Photographer Lee Morris recently purchased a Nikon MB-D11 battery grip from Amazon.com for $216. It worked perfectly fine, but after Morris purchased a second grip for a wedding, he noticed something was different about the first one. After some investigation, he came to realize that he had purchased a Nikon-branded version (i.e. counterfeit) of a grip that ordinarily sells for $40 on Amazon.

Even if you’re buying directly from Amazon.com, verifying that the product is being fulfilled by a reputable dealer can reduce the chances of you unwittingly buying something fake.

Daily deals sites have become quite popular as of late, with Groupon and LivingSocial leading the charge. Photo Dough is a similar service that’s geared towards professional photographers. Every few days the site features a new service or product that’s heavily discounted thanks to group buying, allowing you to save money on things like photo editing programs, digital picture albums, and website templates.

Here’s a helpful illustration that shows acceptable places to crop when shooting portraits. Cropping at green lines should be fine, while cropping at red lines might leave you with an awkward looking photograph.